Generating coherent state of entangled spins

A coherent state of many spins contains quantum entanglement which increases with a decrease in the collective spin value. We present a scheme to engineer this class of pure state based on incoherent spin pumping with a few collective raising/lowering operators. In a pumping scenario aimed for maximum entanglement, the steady-state of N pumped spin qubits realizes the ideal resource for the 1 to N/2 quantum telecloning. We show how the scheme can be implemented in a realistic system of atomic spin qubits in optical lattice. Error analysis show that high fidelity state engineering is possible for N ~ O(100) spins in the presence of decoherence. The scheme can also prepare a resource state for the secret sharing protocol and for the construction of large scale Affleck-Kennedy-Lieb-Tasaki (AKLT) state.Comment: updated version to appear on Phys. Rev.

Anomalous light cones and valley optical selection rules of interlayer excitons in twisted heterobilayers

We show that, because of the inevitable twist and lattice mismatch in heterobilayers of transition metal dichalcogenides, interlayer excitons have six-fold degenerate light cones anomalously located at finite velocities on the parabolic energy dispersion. The photon emissions at each light cone are elliptically polarized, with major axis locked to the direction of exciton velocity, and helicity specified by the valley indices of the electron and the hole. These finite-velocity light cones allow unprecedented possibilities to optically inject valley polarization and valley current, and the observation of both direct and inverse valley Hall effects, by exciting interlayer excitons. Our findings suggest potential excitonic circuits with valley functionalities, and unique opportunities to study exciton dynamics and condensation phenomena in semiconducting 2D heterostructures.Comment: Including the Supplemental Material

Valley excitons in two-dimensional semiconductors

Monolayer group-VIB transition metal dichalcogenides have recently emerged as a new class of semiconductors in the two-dimensional limit. The attractive properties include: the visible range direct band gap ideal for exploring optoelectronic applications; the intriguing physics associated with spin and valley pseudospin of carriers which implies potentials for novel electronics based on these internal degrees of freedom; the exceptionally strong Coulomb interaction due to the two-dimensional geometry and the large effective masses. The physics of excitons, the bound states of electrons and holes, has been one of the most actively studied topics on these two-dimensional semiconductors, where the excitons exhibit remarkably new features due to the strong Coulomb binding, the valley degeneracy of the band edges, and the valley dependent optical selection rules for interband transitions. Here we give a brief overview of the experimental and theoretical findings on excitons in two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides, with focus on the novel properties associated with their valley degrees of freedom.Comment: Topical review, published online on National Science Review in Jan 201

Entanglement detection and quantum metrology by Stokes photon diffraction imaging

We show that far field diffraction image of spontaneously scattered Stokes photons can be used for detection of spin entanglement and for metrology of fields gradients in cold atomic ensembles. For many-body states with small or maximum uncertainty in spin-excitation number, entanglement is simply witnessed by the presence of a sharp diffraction peak or dip. Gradient vector of external fields is measured by the displacement of a diffraction peak due to inhomogeneous spin precessions, which suggests a new possibility for precision measurement beyond the standard quantum limit without entanglement. Monitoring temporal decay of the diffraction peak can also realize non-demolition probe of temperature and collisional interactions in trapped cold atomic gases. The approach can be readily generalized to cold molecules, trapped ions, and solid state spin ensembles

Do partnered women discriminate men's faces less along the attractiveness dimension?

Romantic relationships can have positive effects on health and reproductive fitness. Given that attractive potential alternative mates can pose a threat to romantic relationships, some researchers have proposed that partnered individuals discriminate opposite-sex individuals less along the physical attractiveness dimension than do unpartnered individuals. This effect is proposed to devalue attractive (i.e., high quality) alternative mates and help maintain romantic relationships. Here we investigated this issue by comparing the effects of men's attractiveness on partnered and unpartnered women's performance on two response measures for which attractiveness is known to be important: memory for face photographs (Study 1) and the reward value of faces (Study 2). Consistent with previous research, women's memory was poorer for face photographs of more attractive men (Study 1) and more attractive men's faces were more rewarding (Study 2). However, in neither study were these effects of attractiveness modulated by women's partnership status or partnered women's reported commitment to or happiness with their romantic relationship. These results do not support the proposal that partnered women discriminate potential alternative mates along the physical attractiveness dimension less than do unpartnered women